Prepare the Kitty Conclave

Benedict XVI, no-longer-pope, is resuming pleasures once crowded out of his stressful life: Reading, strolling in the gardens and playing the piano, according to the Vatican.

So, can the pontiff emeritus finally have a cat again? Maybe.

No pets were allowed in the papal residence in Vatican City. But there are kitties all over the enormous garden at the papal retreat, Castel Gandolfo. That’s where Benedict is now ensconced for a few weeks until he can move to a residence being readied for him within Vatican City.

In the archives at Catholic University, there’s a 1958 comic book calledThe Cat from Castelgandolfo in which a fictitious kitty hung out with Pope Pius XI. And undated Web images show some plump felines languishing on the garden walls.

The pope’s brother, Rev. Georg Ratzinger, in his 2011 book, My Brother, the Pope, describes Joseph-who-became-Benedict as someone “very tenderhearted; he loves animals and flowers.” Back in 1968, when Rev. Joseph Ratzinger was a theology professor in the Bavarian town of Tubingen, a neighbor’s cat visited him daily.

“It even accompanied him to his lectures and to Mass. It was a black cat, a very intelligent pussycat,” the older brother writes.

In 2005, Georg Ratzinger’s housekeeper in Germany told MSNBC that the pope’s personal cat, Chico, was under the care of the person who tends the pope’s private residence there and another neighborhood cat visited Chico often.

So, if Georg wants to bring Chico along for a visit, there are two hotels in Castel Gandolfo that advertise they are “pet friendly.”

Once Benedict returns to live at the Mater Ecclesiae (Mother of the Church) refurbished apartment inside the Vatican City State, there are countless cats already afoot that could cozy up to a known soft touch. (source)

Really we need a Kitty Conclave to help him to ge an appropriate cat.

Could Contessina, a cat that roams the gardens at Vatican City, be pontiff emeritus Benedict XVI’s first post-papacy cat? He couldn’t have one when he lived in the papal residence. / Filippo Monteforte, AFP/Getty Images

The pope being a cat person is not put of by their standoffish ways and the fact cats are friendly only when they want something. Really every pope should be a cat person since it will prepare them in working with the Curia. The cat above is really not really wearing liturgically appropriate fut. The emeritus pope needs a cat wearing appropriate fur. Perhaps all white with brown paws.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict has decided what he will wear once he is no longer pope: a simple white cassock and brown shoes given to him in León, Mexico.

“The city of Leon is known for beautiful shoes and very comfortable shoes. And when the Pope was asked what he wanted to wear, he said, ‘I want the shoes from León in Mexico,’” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told journalists Feb. 26.

“It will no longer be the red shoes that you have seen him wear. He has chosen to keep brown shoes that were given to him on his recent trip,” he said.

As for his apparel, the pope emeritus will wear a simple white cassock without the mozzetta (the short cape that covers his shoulders). (source)

I especially like that Benedict will be wearing brown shoes. In the Navy officers and chiefs involved in aviation were allowed to wear brown shoes. So my being a Chief with the Aviation Electionic Technician rating I got to wear brown shoes instead of black. So finally I have exactly one thing in common with him (besides being male and Catholic).